While the NCAA men’s basketball tournament takes center stage amid the madness of March, college presidents are working offstage on a potential sea of change in college athletics that will benefit the richest programs and, to a point, reward student-athletes who help fuel the billion-dollar business of amateur sports.

A steering committee that includes Rice University president David Leebron is expected by April to submit proposed NCAA governance changes, including increased regulatory freedom for the industry’s power players: the Southeastern, Big 12, Big 10, Atlantic Coast and Pac-12 conferences, whose members in 2012 generated $4.3 billion in athletics revenue.

Student-athletes at well-heeled programs such as Texas and Texas A&M could receive several thousand dollars to close the difference between the value of an athletics scholarship and the full cost of college attendance. However, schools in less well-funded leagues that include Rice and the University of Houston also may have to keep pace or risk losing out on the best athletes.

At the center of the debate is a business plan that rakes in billions for colleges and apparel companies, distributing million-dollar coaching contracts while sometimes scrimping on the basics, like extra socks for a women’s basketball team or $150 for a football player’s campus parking pass, for the young men and women on the field of play.